OAC Best Practice Guidelines for Encoded Archival Description

level="collection | fonds |class | recordgrp | series | subfonds | subgrp | subseries | file | item | otherlevel"

<persname| famname| corpname>

Use one or more appropriate <...name> tags to encode and indicate the type of origination names.

The choice and number of names should be determined according to DACS Chapter 9.

The form of the name(s) should be taken from an standard naming authority file, such as the Library of Congress Name Authority File or Union List of Artists' Names. If a name does not appear in an authority file, establish the name according to a content standard such as AACR2.

Use one <controlaccess> tag to group nested subelements. Subelements are repeatable.

In order to promote content access to collections, the OAC requires at least three controlled access headings encoded using the following subelements: <persname>, <famname>, <corpname>, <title>, <geogname>, <genreform>, <occupation>, or <function>.

Some repositories may wish to encode as a <title> subelement the name of the metacollection to which an individual collection is assigned or associated, e.g., Critical Theory Archive for the Jacques Derrida Papers or Melanesia Archive for the John Layard Papers.

In addition, repositories may use sublements to indicate additional creators and collectors, encoded using <persname>, <famname>, or <corpname>.

Each subelement requires either a SOURCE or RULES attribute, as appropriate. Use a SOURCE attribute to encode the source (i.e., thesaurus, authority file) of an established list of indexing terms. If the term is not found in an established list, then do not use a SOURCE attribute. Use instead a RULES attribute to indicate the content standard by which the term is contstructed, e.g., "lcsh", "aacr", "dacs". If the term is not constructed according to an established content standard, encode the RULES attribute value as "local".

If the choice is made to add a preferred "P" element to <controlaccess>, the attributes for that element become mandatory "M". In other words, every element in <controlaccess> must have a ROLE attribute where it applies (e.g., on <...name> subelements), and either a SOURCE or RULES attribute.

Use one or more <persname> tags.

The form of the name(s) should be taken from an standard naming authority file, such as the Library of Congress Name Authority File or Union List of Artists' Names. If a name does not appear in an authority file, establish the name according to a content standard such as DACS, or more generally, AACR2.

Use one or more <famname> tags.

The form of the name(s) should be taken from an standard naming authority file, such as the Library of Congress Name Authority File or Union List of Artists' Names. If a name does not appear in an authority file, establish the name according to a content standard such as DACS, or more generally, AACR2.

Use one or more <corpname> tags.

The form of the name(s) should be taken from an standard naming authority file, such as the Library of Congress Name Authority File or Union List of Artists' Names. If a name does not appear in an authority file, establish the name according to a content standard such as DACS, or more generally, AACR2.

Use one or more <title> tags for formal titles of works which are contained or represented in a collection, or for titles of projects and/or (meta)collections of which the collection is a member. A "metacollection" is an artificial collection of two or more discrete collections.

The form of the title should be taken from an standard naming authority file, such as the Library of Congress Title Authority File. If a title does not appear in an authority file, establish the title according to a content standard such as DACS, or more generally, AACR2.

Use one or more <subject> tags.

The form of the heading should be taken from a standard thesaurus, such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT), or Thesaurus of Graphic Materials I (TGM).While the OAC does not prescribe that topical values be drawn from a specific thesaurus, it strongly prefers that repositories use LCSH.

If a heading does not appear in a thesaurus, establish the heading according to standard thesaurus rules (such as the Library of Congress' Subject Cataloging Manual, AAT rules, or TGM rules), or according to local rules.

Use one or more <geogname> tags.

The form of the name(s) should be taken from an standard naming authority file, such as the Library of Congress Name Authority File. If a name does not appear in an authority file, establish the name according to a content standard such as DACS, or more generally, AACR2.

Use one or more <genreform> tags.

The form of the heading should be taken from a standard or local thesaurus, such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT), or Thesaurus of Graphic Materials II (TGM).While the OAC does not prescribe that topical values be drawn from a specific thesaurus, it strongly prefers that repositories use LC Subject Headings (LCSH).

If a heading does not appear in a thesaurus, establish the heading according to standard thesaurus rules (such as the Library of Congress' Subject Cataloging Manual, AAT rules, or TGM rules), or local thesaurus rules.

Use one or more <occupation> tags.

The form of the heading should be taken from a standard or local thesaurus, such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT), or Thesaurus of Graphic Materials I (TGM).While the OAC does not prescribe that topical values be drawn from a specific thesaurus, it strongly prefers that repositories use LC Subject Headings (LCSH).

If a heading does not appear in a thesaurus, establish the heading according to standard thesaurus rules (such as the Library of Congress' Subject Cataloging Manual, AAT rules, or TGM rules), or local thesaurus rules.

Use one or more <function> tags.

The form of the heading should be taken from a standard or local thesaurus, such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT), or Thesaurus of Graphic Materials I (TGM).While the OAC does not prescribe that topical values be drawn from a specific thesaurus, it strongly prefers that repositories use LC Subject Headings (LCSH).

If a heading does not appear in a thesaurus, establish the heading according to standard thesaurus rules (such as the Library of Congress' Subject Cataloging Manual, AAT rules, or TGM rules), or local thesaurus rules.

type="combined | analyticover | in-depth"

Encode appropriate value based on the structure of your finding aid.

Use "analyticover" for finding aids that include a narrative description of major subdivisions, such as series and subseries, but that lack a file or item level container list.

Use "in-depth" for finding aids that lack any major subdivisions and consist only of a high-level description followed by a file or item level container list.

Use "combined" for a combination of both of these, where each major subdivision should be immediately followed by a file or item level container list. "Combined" is required for the latter in order to facilitate stylesheet manipulation of multi-level finding aid data.